Ed Begley Jr. on Blunt Talk, St. Elsewhere, and Spinal Tap

[TMC]

http://www.avclub.com/article/ed-beg...inal-ta-226087

St. Elsewhere (1982-88) / Homicide: The Movie (2000)—“Dr. Victor Erlich”

EBJ: I auditioned for a part on St. Elsewhere and didn’t get it. It was the part of Dr. Peter White, which Terence Knox got, a character who ends up getting shot in the second or third season. But they threw me a bone and gave me this character Erlich that wasn’t really anything. He had, like, two lines. And they merged him with a character named Stanton or something who had another two lines, but unfortunately one of the two lines had him talking to Erlich. So I was talking to myself as a character. [Laughs.] So I was, like, “How’s this going to go? Wow!” But I wanted to be on the show, so I was just glad that I got to do it. And then it was, “Wow, they want me to do a second episode, and a third episode!” Pretty soon they made me a regular, and I worked for six wonderful years on the show.

AVC: How did you enjoy the evolution of Erlich as a character? Did you feel that they gave him enough facets over the course of the run?

EBJ: Oh, yeah, they gave me wonderful stuff to do as Erlich. It was a real treat. It was Tom Fontana and John Masius and Bruce Paltrow, and Mark Tinker and Josh Brand and John Halsey, these wonderful, wonderful writers. And great actors: Bill Daniels, who I know did an interview with you, and Ed Flanders, Bonnie Barlett, Christina Pickles, and Denzel Washington, for God’s sake! It was just great.

AVC: Did you have a favorite Erlich storyline or plot arc during the run of the show?

EBJ: Yeah, where I meet this woman at a bar and I take her home. It was based on some urban legend, probably an apocryphal tale that never occurred, but in the show, I take her home, and she’s into kinky stuff, so I tie her up. But then I say, “Oh, I don’t have any protection, let me go out to the car.” But when I come back, I can’t get back in her apartment! And then in the apocryphal tale, the guy who this supposedly happened to, he meets the girl again at the bar a month later or so, and he goes, “Oh, my God, I’m so sorry! I went back to your building, but I didn’t know what number you were in, and even if I could’ve pushed the button, you couldn’t answer, so I couldn’t get back in!” And she supposedly says, “Far out,” which is exactly what you’d say after you’ve been tied up for that long without food or water or whatever. [Laughs.] I can’t remember what she said in our version, but I ended up marrying that girl on the show, so that was a bit of fantasy!

AVC: Several years after the show wrapped up, you popped up in Homicide: The Movie playing a doctor, and even though your character’s actual name is never said aloud, you’re credited as playing Dr. Victor Erlich

EBJ: Oh, that’s right! They did a TV movie to kind of wrap up Homicide: Life On The Street, and they had me play a doctor, so I played Erlich, who was suddenly living in Baltimore. [Laughs.] It was a Tom Fontana show with Barry Levinson, so they kind of took that liberty, which was fine by me!